Superman: New Krypton Special Review

The Earth just became home to 100,000 new Kryptonians. Superman's crossover begins here.

With the arrival of the New Krypton crossover, DC is unveiling the latest part of its plan to make the Superman books a more cohesive franchise. Personally, I'm not so convinced that's a worthwhile goal. Back in the '90s, the four Superman books were so closely interconnected they may as well have been one giant weekly book. That didn't mean the stories were better off for it. Quite the opposite. The majority of the time I don't much care how well the Superman and Supergirl titles are faring. I just want my monthly dose of Action Comics.

So my interest in New Krypton is almost entirely hinged on the fact that DC is pitching it as 2009's answer to The Sinestro Corps War. Where that crossover took the Green Lantern books to a new level and brought in a legion of new readers, this story will supposedly do the same for the Superman books. After reading the first chapter, I'm not convinced that's going to happen. New Krypton Special offers a lot to the informed reader, but it lacks that universal appeal or the level of shocking twists that made The Sinestro Corps War Special so enjoyable in 2007.

This special picks up almost directly where Action Comics #870 left off. Superman had just prevailed over Brainiac and restored the Bottle City of Kandor to its full-size glory. Unfortunately for Supes, Brainiac got one last parting shot in, killing Pa Kent and ruining the day for everyone. The opening segment deals with the funeral for Pa Kent. From there, the story branches outwards. We see the 100,000 citizens of Kandor adjusting to their new life on Earth. We see Lois deal with her own family issues, and Jimmy Olsen struggle with the revelations from last week's Superman's Pal Special.

The opening sequence is definitely the strongest, thanks mostly to the fact that is was handled by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. Frank's talent for conveying emotion truly shines in the first few pages, where the entire funeral is depicted sans dialogue. Unfortunately, as the creative teams rotate in and out the visuals take a dip and the issue never maintains a truly cohesive feel. Johns presence is felt throughout, and luckily the dialogue remains pretty consistent. It's just unfortunate that Frank couldn't have handled the entire issue. No offense to Renato Guedes and Jamal Igle, but they're not Gary Frank, either in overall quality of composition or visual style. Ethan van Sciver's presence helped kick off Sinestro Corps with a visual bang. Here, that bang becomes a muffled cough.

Assuming you've at least been reading Johns' Action Comics and James Robinson's Superman, you'll find the overall story compelling enough. This Special is a direct continuation of nearly every thread introduced in those two books over the past six months. If you haven't been following along, I wouldn't go so far as to say you'll be lost. It's more likely that you won't care as much. Outside of the funeral scene, the issue lacks a necessary level of emotional resonance. Part of the problem is that so many aspects feel familiar to me as a long term Superman reader. Jimmy Olsen getting in over his head, government conspiracies against Superman, familiar villains coming together to bring down Superman - we've all been here before. While it's hard to complain about the actual quality of writing, the sense of familiarity is a bit of a drag. Just because the writers spin a Superman vs. US Government better than the Superman/Batman team did doesn't make the path seem less trodden.

All told, I think New Krypton Special is a decent way to kick off a crossover. I'm certainly intrigued to see where Johns and his crew are headed in the next three months. But despite all DC's promises, this is no Sinestro Corps War. At least, not yet.

Jesse's Score: 8.1

Another Take by Dan Phillips:

For years Superman writers have been wracking their brains to figure out imposing obstacles to throw at their titular hero and make readers buy into the notion that, this time, the uber-powerful Big Blue might not walk away from the wreckage unscathed. Many of these brainstorming sessions have resulted in stories featuring some variation of a walking steroid case who can punch Superman in the streets of Metropolis for an extended amount of time. The best stories and writers, however, figure out ways to challenge Superman on a psychological, ethical or moral level, cleverly subverting the very beliefs Superman stands for. New Krypton seems poised to land itself in the latter category, which is why it deservedly has Superman fans more excited about the franchise than they have been in years.

Despite suspicions that the Superman comics have needlessly taken steps to align their continuity more fluidly with Superman stories from other media by offing Pa Kent, it's clear from this New Krypton Special that the death of Superman's adopted father is meant to serve a greater purpose. Along with the death of Jonathan Kent, Superman has also lost his clearest link to and reminder of his humanity. That this all happens to coincide with the arrival of 100,000 Kryptonians with feelings of entitlement, the appearance of the most deadly alien villain in the universe and the rise of a shadowy government agency that hopes to rid the Earth of Superman forever is what makes New Krypton so fascinating. The perfect storm is building around Superman, and it's tough to guess how the hero will react. When was the last time you could honestly say that about a Superman story?

From the looks of it, I'd say the Superman franchise has found the strongest mix of writers to come around in a long time. Geoff Johns is a master at building on the most iconic aspects of the Superman mythos in a way that plays towards most of our nostalgic connections to the character. James Robinson is extremely adept at digging in obscure corners of any superhero mythology and making us care about characters and ideas that we never really paid much attention to. And although he's yet to prove much, Sterling Gates' debut issue on Supergirl showed us he's eager and ready to tackle the Supergirl character and make her work within the confines of the Superman franchise and the DCU.

That Supergirl issue was the first indication of how the Superman, Action Comics and Supergirl books might work together to tell the same story. This New Krypton special is the second, and all indications are very promising indeed. All three writers bring their strengths to the table, and the fact that it is mostly difficult to ascertain which writer wrote what page makes it obvious that they work well together. This is the type of cohesion many fans, myself included, were hoping for when Johns and Kurt Busiek took over the franchise following Infinite Crisis.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the art. Gary Frank handles the first ten or so pages of the book. That section is as gorgeous and iconic as the rest of Frank's recent work on Action Comics. But then Pete Woods takes over, and although he's no slouch, he's no Gary Frank either. There's such a stark dip in quality and resonance between Frank's pages and Woods' that when reading the issue it's tough to keep from hoping that the next page will see Frank reclaim the artistic duties. He doesn't, and the book suffers as a result. Again, I don't think Woods is a bad artist at all. It's just difficult to move from Frank's pages to Woods', which look like a less polished, lumpier version of the Dodsons' style of art. (Regular Superman artist Renato Guedes is also credited here, but to be completely honest, I couldn't quite recognize when he took over for Woods. This could possibly be due to me reading the issue in low resolution PDF form. The difference could very well be more noticeable in print, or to a more astute eye.)

Those minor artistic problems aside, the issue still worked wonderfully. This Special is all set-up, and the set-up to this story is absolutely engrossing. The arrival of the Kandor Kryptonians and the return of some familiar faces bring up some serious questions, and I can't wait to hear the answers. The Superman character might be up to his ears in major problems right now, but his comics haven't been pointing in such a promising direction in years. Barring any publication gaffes, it looks like we're going to be reading great Superman comics every week for the next two months. Possibly longer.